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2009-2010 Fellows Bios

NU Public Interest Program Fellows are passionate, dedicated, and have made profound impacts at their host organizations. Meet our current fellows and learn about their work.

Christine Deyerler (By the Hand Club for Kids)
Christine Deyerler is blessed to have graduated from Northwestern University this past Spring with a B.S. in Communication after concentrating in Speech-Language Pathology and Learning Disabilities and a Minor in Psychology. She is so glad to have been able to start her post-graduation life with the job she wanted from the beginning of the year - the only job she applied for! As a Team Leader at By The Hand Club for Kids, Christine is responsible for twenty-two first graders during the after-school hours in the neighborhood of Austin on the west side of the city. Home visits, school visits, and four hours of programming each of three weeknight evenings keep her busy, but she would not have it any other way. Both a first generation college student and a Chicago native, Christine is thrilled to be a part of By The Hand, a new organization to the program, and looks forward to growing and learning in this community of young alumni this year!

Ann Marie Dvorak (METROsquash)
Ann Marie, a native of Cleveland's westside, graduated from Northwestern in June 2009 with a major in Cultural Anthropology and a minor in Creative Writing. Throughout her four years as an undergraduate, Ann Marie devoted most of her extracurricular time to the Northwestern Community Development Corps, first as a volunteer with Deborah's Place - a women's homeless shelter in Chicago - where she served until graduation with the organization's Learning Center. She also became a member of the Volunteer Relations Committee, the Community Outreach Committee, and the Executive Board as Community Outreach Co-Chair during her junior year. Ann Marie's passion for the arts led her to crew for several concerts and work on the Publicity Committee with A&O Productions for two and a half years, as well as to throw herself into the Performance Studies and Creative Writing departments (which she hopes to return to)! As a PIP Fellow at METROsquash, Ann Marie has been eagerly working to harness her interests in youth development, education, civic engagement, and the arts to benefit 5th to 9th graders in Chicago's Hyde Park. She is specifically working as Academic and Enrichment Director for this nonprofit that seeks to help students develop their academic, personal, and athletic potentials through a multi-faceted afterschool education and squash program. Ann Marie's main focuses are crafting the academic tutoring sessions and supplemental educational activities - and spreading the word about METROsquash's positive impact on the lives of Southside youth to mobilize more people to get involved.

Ryan Erickson (Center on Halsted)
Ryan Erickson graduated from Northwestern in 2009 with a degree in History. While an undergraduate, he served as president of the College Democrats, and he held offices in a number of other student groups that seek to bolster political advocacy at Northwestern. He currently works at Center on Halsted, an LGBT community center in Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood. As Community Relations and Outreach Manager, Ryan is responsible for representing the Center publicly and gathering feedback about its programs; he also takes an active role in the cultivation and development of new programs. Originally from Worcester, MA, Ryan loves reading and cooking. He recently joined with friends to launch an online magazine/blog about life in Chicago, The Chicago Second: http://www.thechicagosecond.com/.

Liz Granger (Project on Civic Reflection)
Liz Granger comes from the bleak plains of Omaha, NE. During her childhood, empty stretches of time afforded her fondness for simple hobbies like knitting, reading, and staring. At Northwestern she studied magazine journalism and creative non-fiction writing, and now she works with a community of readers at the Project on Civic Reflection. Reflective discussion drew her because it helps workers understand their livelihoods from a prism of angles. Liz has volunteered in Uganda at a rural development NGO, and has studied the country's waste removal system. A good reflective chat may have helped her realize that not all international "developers" skip confidently into their work. If you want to discuss the state of sanitary napkins in Uganda, grab a tea with Liz!

Rachel Herter (Lawndale Christian Health Center)
Rachel Herter was born and raised in the southwest suburbs of Chicago. At Northwestern, she was actively involved in the women's ice hockey team, concert band, and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. In addition, Rachel was a community assistant in Elder during her junior year. Some of her favorite memories of her time at NU include trips to Guatemala, El Salvador, and West Africa, and she is currently applying to serve with the Peace Corps in late 2010. Since graduating with a chemistry degree in June 2009, Rachel has been working at the Lawndale Christian Health Clinic on the west side of Chicago. There, she sits on the infection control committee and assists with electronic medical record support. Now that Rachel is living in Humboldt Park, she is looking forward to exploring Chicago and learning more about healthcare in underserved communities.

Rachel Koch (Lawndale Christian Health Center)
Rachel Koch graduated in 2009 from Northwestern University with a B.A. in Anthropology and International Studies. Rachel had the opportunity to study abroad for 4 months in Mali, West Africa where she carried out research for her senior honors thesis on the campaign against female genital cutting. She has also spent time volunteering in hospitals in Bolivia and Cameroon. On campus, she was active in Reformed University Fellowship and the Global Engagement Summit. Rachel is excited to be working this year as an operations intern at Lawndale Christian Health Center. As an intern, Rachel works closely with the medical directors to improve clinical quality and efficiency at Lawndale as well as to continue to refine and implement Lawndale's mission to serve communities on the west side. She plans to continue her education in healthcare and public health in the future but, in the meantime, is looking forward to this opportunity to learn about both the clinical and the administrative aspects of community healthcare. She hopes to one day integrate her passions for social justice, healthcare and West Africa. Currently, Rachel lives in Roscoe Village and enjoys enjoys running, cooking and exploring new restaurants in Chicago during her free time.

Sunny Lin (Lawndale Christian Health Center)
Sunny Lin graduated from Northwestern's School of Education and Social Policy with a major in Human Development and Psychological Services in Spring of 2009. She was born and raised in New Jersey and is now living in the Pilsen neighborhood in Chicago. Sunny has one main hobby, to eat, but also loves to cook, paint, and bike around Chicago on summer evenings. She is currently interning at the Lawndale Christian Health Center, and intends on pursuing a nursing/public health degree after returning from the Peace Corps in 2012.

Golda Kosisochi Onyeneho (Urban Prep Academies)
Golda Kosisochi Onyeneho was born in the intersection of things different and opposite. Golda (Kosi as she likes to be called) was born in frigid cold of winter in Fargo, North Dakota, to parents who were used to the warm and pungent air of Mbaise, Nigeria. She loves art, singing, diversity, and analytical thinking. Kosi Onyeneho moved to Burnsville, MN as an adolescent and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Northwestern University, in Psychology and Global Health, with a focus in Cultural Psychology in June, 2009. Prior to that, she graduated from Burnsville Senior High School in Minnesota. Kosi hopes to pursue graduate degrees in Anthropology and Law. Kosi is currently a fellow for the Northwestern Public Interest Program and is working at Urban Prep in the department of College Counseling. Kosi really likes learning about different cultures, and that is one of her favorite things about Chicago, its diversity.

Justine Reisinger (Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning)
Justine Reisinger hails from Cincinnati, OH after a childhood of moves from Chicago to Ohio, Japan, Arkansas, and eventually back to Chicago, where she double majored in Journalism and Political Science. With a passion for seeing new places, throughout her time at NU she studied abroad in Rome, completed her journalism residency in South Africa while working at a national weekly newspaper, and spent a week in her favorite city, Berlin, through Fulbright's Berlin Capital Program for Young American Journalists. Justine is thrilled to be working at the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, the seven-county region's land use and transportation planning agency. She primarily works on the agency's coordination efforts regarding stimulus money coming to the region and writes for their Recovery Blog. She is enjoying this chance to work on the non-profit side of things, while learning new skills like GIS mapping and monitoring fiscal and public policy on the local, state and federal levels. Justine hopes to continue a career both serving the public and working as a journalist. In her spare time, Justine enjoys seeing live music and traveling.

Elsa Sackett (Adler Planetarium)
Elsa Sackett graduated from Northwestern University in 2009, having completed a double major in Human Development & Psychological Services and International Studies. Elsa has spent time working with a variety of non-profits, and her past favorites include The Cradle, The American Red Cross, and the Rape Assistance And Awareness Program. She was lucky enough to study abroad in France and would love to go back, or alternatively would like to spend time in Argentina to learn both Spanish and the tango. Elsa is making the most of her commute combined with a Chicago library card, and also enjoys cooking and baking -- which she tries to balance out with yoga and pilates. Elsa's enjoying her new location in the Lakeview neighborhood, although as a native Denverite she does occasionally miss the mountains. Through PIP, Elsa is an Assistant Educator at the Adler Planetarium, and spends her time leading field trip programming and coordinating family science activities.

Esperanza Salgado (Evanston Township High School)
Esperanza Salgado grew up in Cicero, a southwest suburb of Chicago. She graduated from Northwestern University with degrees in Cultural Anthropology and Spanish. As an undergraduate Esperanza participated in several student organizations and was a leader in the multicultural community at NU. She enjoyed her time planning events for her sorority and for Hispanic/Latino Student Affairs, among other things. During summer breaks Esperanza volunteered and later interned at Corazon Community Services, a youth center for at risk youth in Cicero. From her experience at this youth center Esperanza realized she would really enjoy continuing working with adolescents. She is now a fellow at Evanston Township High School where she hopes to continue helping minority students and youth in general.

Jon Shaffer (GlobeMed)
Jon Shaffer is the Executive Director of GlobeMed, an Evanston based nonprofit that aims to strengthen the movement for global health equity by empowering students and communities to work together to improve the health of the impoverished around the world. Jon graduated from Northwestern University in June, 2009 with a bachelors of science in biomedical engineering. As an undergrad, he led the GlobeMed chapter at Northwestern which raised over $12,000 to support an innovative nutrition project as well the construction of a pathology lab at a rural medical clinic called the HOPE Center in Ho, Ghana. Jon also led a team to Ghana during the summer of 2008 where they worked to install an electronic medical records system as well as performed data analysis for the Center staff.

Sam Schiller (Wabashco LLC)
Sam Schiller is thrilled to serve as a NUPIP fellow after coordinating the program for three years as an Northwestern undergraduate. At NU, Sam studied social policy and environmental policy. At Northwestern Sam was particularly involved with issues of environmental sustainability, founding Environmental Campus Outreach, a Jewish environmental group, and the Sustainability Working Group (SWaG), a Faculty, Administrative and student partnership that drives university wide sustainability projects. Sam also takes pride in his involvement in Hillel's student board of directors, the NU Darfur Action Coalition, and Northwestern theater productions for which he played percussion. For his environmental policy work, Sam received a Morris K. Udall Congressional Scholarship, allowing him to pursue a summer practicum studying energy policy at the Center for American Progress in Washington. Sam currently works at Wabashco LLC, a project developer for a variety of renewable energy technologies.

Sarah Sumadi (Center on Halsted)
Sarah Sumadi is currently the director of the volunteer program at the Center on Halsted, the largest LGBT community center in the Midwest. She's originally from San Antonio, Texas (Southern accent, no; saying "y'all", yes), and graduated from Northwestern with a journalism degree in 2009. In college, she worked with the Medill Innocence Project to investigate wrongful convictions and danced with NU's tap company, Tonik Tap. She spent the summer in Egypt on a State Department scholarship to learn Arabic, and is currently seeking a tutor to continue her studies. In her spare time, you will find her walking and training dogs at PAWS Chicago.

Bradley Troast (Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connections)
Bradley Troast graduated from Northwestern University in June 2009 with a BS in Communication. In 2008-2009, he was co-chair of Northwestern Community Development Corps, the largest direct service organization at NU. He is now the Assistant Program Coordinator at Cabrini Connections, a tutoring program for 7th-12th graders, and the Tutor/Mentor Connection, a resource network for all 200+ tutor/mentor programs in Chicago. Bradley was born and raised in Tallahassee, Florida, before moving to Evanston four years ago. He has since fallen in love with Chicago and is now a proud resident of the South Loop where he lives with his golden retriever, Celine. Bradley is a huge fan of hip hop, movies, and... community development.

Sasha Tuzel (Chicago Public Schools, Office of New Schools)
Sasha Tuzel graduated from Northwestern in 2009 with majors in Sociology and Political Science. She received honors for her Sociology thesis, which examined which corporate characteristics contribute to anti-corporate boycott success, if any. During her time at Northwestern, Sasha was a member of the Northwestern Debate Society, studied abroad in Beijing, and joined the Northwestern Field Studies Program, where she worked with the Interfaith Housing Center of the Northern Suburbs to reduce discrimination against low-income and immigrant renters. Currently Sasha is working for the Office of New Schools in Chicago Public Schools, and looks forward to improving service to charter and contract schools, as well as to getting a behind the scenes look at organizational behavior.

Emily Vaughan (The Community Builders, Inc.)
Emily Vaughan was born and raised in sunny Orlando, Florida up until she inexplicably decided to forgo paradise for four years (and four bone chilling winters) at Northwestern University. Despite the cold, the time she spent in Evanston was wonderful and Chicago quickly became her new home. Graduating from Northwestern with a B.A. in Philosophy, Emily is very excited about the opportunity PIP has afforded her to work for one of the largest mixed-income housing developers in the country. At TCB’s Oakwood Shores site located on Chicago’s South Side, Emily is part of the effort to build a strong community where people of all incomes can achieve their full potential in an area which historically has been the location of some of Chicago’s most notorious public housing. With the official title Community Outreach Specialist, Emily hopes to provide Oakwood Shores’ residents with the social service support they need to thrive in this new community. Emily is currently enjoying living in Wicker Park where she spends the weekends exploring her new neighborhood.

Katie Wright (Corporation for Enterprise Development)
Katie is thrilled to be working for the Corporation for Enterprise Development (CFED), an economic development “think and do” tank, as NUPIP’s first fellow in Washington, D.C. Prior to her fellowship, Katie graduated with a B.S. in Social Policy from Northwestern University. While on campus, she served as the co-director of College Feminists and was heavily involved with Dance Marathon. To pursue her interest in women’s issues, she interned at a progressive feminist non-profit in Washington D.C. as part of the SESP practicum. Katie also explored a parallel interest in business as a business analyst intern at Target Corporation in Minneapolis, MN; her home town. As CFED works to expand economic opportunity to groups often excluded from the mainstream economy like low-income women and families, her fellowship at CFED is the perfect marriage of her interests in business and progressive issues. At CFED, Katie works on children’s savings and financial security and state policy. She hopes her work will contribute to CFED’s mission of helping Americans start and grow businesses, go to college, own a home, and save for their children’s and own economic futures.

Tyler Yarbrough (Urban Prep Academies, East Garfield Park)
Tyler Yarbrough is a recent graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. While there, she majored in Journalism, with a concentration in Sociology and African American Studies. Throughout college and presently, her focus has been social justice and community involvement. From working for the Children’s Defense Fund and the Chicago Freedom School to writing a social action column for the Windy Citizen, she is driven to work toward the advancement of freedom, for everyone. At Northwestern, she served as the Social Action Chair and President of her community service oriented sorority, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. She also established a mentorship program for underserved middle-school-aged boys, Project Uplift. Her passion for assisting this particular demographic undoubtedly made her placement at Urban Prep Academy for Young Men East Garfield Park Campus a natural match. There, Tyler serves as the College Counselor and Study UP! Coordinator.